Intraoperative blood salvage (IBS) is a procedure to collect, process and return the patient's own blood during a surgical operation. Compared to transfusion from even a carefully selected donor, the main advantages of IBS include the elimination of the risk of disease transmission, the prevention of immune reactions, and the avoidance of hemolytic, febrile and allergic problems. IBS also provides ready availability, which is particularly important for rare blood types. IBS also follows directly from the need to provide a clear field for the surgeon. In addition, IBS is cost effective, and reduces the demands of the blood bank industry for its limited resources. The proposed technology is oriented toward improvements in the collection phase of IBS. The new technology is thus designed to work with the conventional blood salvage systems that already provide significant benefits. The additional components of the proposed system are relatively inexpensive, compared to the cost of cell washers or units of transfused blood. These components are also quite simple to use, resulting in minimum requirements of technician training and cost. Finally, the prospect of improved patient care, resulting in shortened hospital stays, makes the proposed system quite promising in terms of net cost effectiveness.